quilt in progress #2

Where was this quilting progress left off?

Oh yeah. So I laid out my panel with all the squares cut. Once I did that - although this has no photo documentation of it - I could play with the different fabrics and determine my triangle pieces which fill out the edges on these panels.

The easiest way to construct my panels was to stitch my squares and edging triangles into rows, then the rows into a panel. This way I could also save some time when pressing the seam allowances apart, which I did in one go when all my rows were ready.

I iron my seam allowances apart on this quilt, and this was decided after a little research and consideration. I haven't got any heavy fabrics in this quilt, and most of my seams are simple, so for me ironing apart was the best solution. For other quilt designs, ironing seam allowances onto the left or right might be more helpful but it all depends on your design and the fabrics used.

Well, once my rows were ready with seam allowances pressed, I could start lining them up one by one for sewing. It makes sense to pay attention at this point to line up the joining points ie. the vertical seams well, so if you are planning a stitch-in-the-ditch finish on the quilt you will be able to do it well. Also if you have more obvious colour contrasts between the fabric charms, any off seams will be more visible that on mine.

Seam allowances were pressed apart on the rows too, just like before. A little piece of good advice here: any time you iron your quilt, be mindful of not stretching the fabric out with the motion you use - it's better to literally press down than to left and right. Stretched fabric can cause issues later. If you managed to stretch your fabric, you can spray your stretched piece/s with water, wait a few seconds for the fibres to relax and press it again - it should help a little.

And here is my panel on completion.

I have done three more of this since, and thrifted a nice green fabric with yellow floral motifs to go into the middle bits. Cutting the middle pieces will be the next stage I'll show next when I come back with an update.

So far the quilt has been a great joy to sew, although it's still hard to tell what the final thing will look like as a whole. We'll see, huh?

By the way, I got a lot of good information on how-to and tips from this quilting tutorials page, for example on which way to iron the seam allowance.